The San Francisco 49ers had a Super Bowl-caliber roster. To maintain that, they felt the best move was to save money on the quarterback position. So, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan decided to make a bold move. They packaged three first-round picks and a third-round pick, potentially mortgaging their future, and traded with the Miami Dolphins to move up to the No. 3 overall pick.
"We got lucky on Brock [Purdy], but sure that set back our team," Lynch admitted after Friday's preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers. "It would've been nice to have those picks and all that, so we do own that. And fortunately, we still have a really good football team that I think has a legitimate shot. We're focused on game one, but we have a championship-level roster."
Lynch and Shanahan knew that they'd be able to better maintain a championship roster with a quarterback on a rookie contract. Initially, that quarterback ended up being Trey Lance.
There was just one problem. The 49ers were in win-now mode. That meant fewer opportunities for an inexperienced Lance to get reps. Jimmy Garoppolo was the better option for a team ready to fight and claw for a championship.
"I do think Trey needs an opportunity to play more," Shanahan said. "The opportunities he's had here, when he has had those two opportunities, he's gotten hurt in both of them and kind of missed that window a little bit."
Lance broke his finger in a preseason game during his rookie season. That setback lasted well into his second offseason. After the 49ers handed Lance the starting quarterback job, ready to push through any growing pains to give the young player a chance for on-the-job development, Lance suffered a season-ending ankle injury in his second game of the season.
"He hadn't played a ton of football, so we knew we were taking somewhat of a chance, but I believe to this day, if we hadn't taken him, someone would have right behind us," Lynch shared. "I think the next pick. And so, I don't think we were the only one seeing it. He's a very talented young man."
The 49ers traded from the No. 12 overall pick to No. 3 because they didn't believe they would have an opportunity to do so again. This was their chance to get a highly-graded quarterback while still owning a stacked roster.
"Was hoping he could play more his first year," Shanahan said. "We knew he wouldn't come in and just take it over from Jimmy, but we were hoping to mix him in and kind of give him some experience. But once he broke the finger and stuff, it just got tougher for him as time went."
After Lance's injury, Shanahan still hoped the quarterback could return to be the starter in his third NFL season. Unfortunately for Lance, he never got that opportunity. He fell victim to the 49ers getting very lucky, finding a starting-caliber quarterback with the last overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Purdy took over after Lance and Garoppolo got injured, helping guide the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game. Even after suffering an injury to his throwing arm, Shanahan and the 49ers had seen enough to know that the team now belonged to Purdy, not Lance.
The 49ers spoke to multiple teams over the last few days about a trade for Trey Lance. Originally, the organization was focused on getting a deal done with teams ONLY in the AFC, per league sources.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) August 26, 2023
What are the Dallas Cowboys getting in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick? Lance is still just 23 years old and has tons of upside. He can still develop into an outstanding quarterback. That just wasn't going to happen with the 49ers, with Lance sitting third on the depth chart. Look at Purdy. He only got a handful of offseason reps during his rookie year. When he finally took the field in Week 13, Shanahan and the 49ers didn't truly know what they had in the first-year quarterback.
"With our system, the number one takes a lot of reps, the number two takes the scout team reps," Lynch said. "It's just not a whole lot of opportunity. ... He needs to play to get better. And I think that's going to be his opportunity. Play, I mean, ideally games, but play is running scout team, play is doing all those things. We weren't going to have that."
The head coach didn't envision Lance getting many opportunities this season, either.
"There's not a developmental league. There's not a whole field on the side where we can get our players just to practice to give him reps," Shanahan explained. "You got to get the one ready to go, and when you're not, it's hard enough to get the two ready to go. The three is usually a guy who never gets a rep till he randomly gets out there.
"That wasn't what I felt was right for Trey and with how much we had done so far. That wasn't going to be what was right for our team, either. I thought it was time to move on for him and for us."
The trade of Trey Lance to the Cowboys actually costs the 49ers some cap space this year. Lance's $940,000 salary is wiped from the books, but his spot goes to Brandon Allen, whose cap figure is $1,092,500. Next year, the saving is $5.31 million (minus the price of a new QB).
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) August 26, 2023
The financials also played a part in the decision to ship Lance to another team. The 49ers were ready to hold onto Lance this season. His salary-cap impact would not be felt until next year. But Lance wanted the opportunity to compete for at least a QB2 job somewhere.
"You'd love to keep a third guy to develop, especially a guy that you really, really love and believe that he could do it someday," Shanahan said. "But to do that for $7 million over two years with places where you are in the cap when you can't provide those reps and stuff for people. You got other things with our team ... that, to me, doesn't make much sense for the Niners.
"I wish it would because hell yeah, we'd love to just keep him until eventually it works out. But that clock ran out here, and that's why we had to make a real tough decision, one we didn't enjoy doing, one we didn't want to do, but we try to do what we think's best, and this is what we think is best."
Said Lynch: "Trey's on the minimum this year. In future years, next year, it kicks up quite a bit. And that kind of coincides with when our stuff's going to get tight. So, of course, that plays a factor."
The 49ers are betting a lot on Purdy, giving away the other quarterback they bet big on only two years ago. There is a lot of pressure on the Niners to win a championship this season with Purdy at the helm of the offense. If Purdy doesn't end up being the guy, and Lance develops into a good player in Dallas, fans will never forgive Lynch and Shanahan.
"And we were very fortunate for Brock to become what he's become," Lynch said. "Now he's got to continue to do it, but the early returns are good."
